Unlike the article’s author (and La Colombe staple), Todd Carmichael, we’re not exactly taking the news as reason to mourn the death of a coffee great. Despite the very un-Portlandia image of such a Wall Street buyout, a Stumptown ownership change is perhaps less of a sad loss for the quality coffee world and more of a necessary step in its progressive legitimization.

Mr. Carmichael calls Stumptown’s founder, Duane Sorenson, “the Che Guevara of the rock-star barista movement.” Coincidentally, today Mr. Guevara is known far more for his T-shirt iconography than for his political treatises. Similarly, Stumptown helped usher in the era of the Clover brewer, only for Clover to sell out to Starbucks less than two years later — ultimately inspiring today’s throwback to decades-old pour-over brewing technology.

Any reasonably successful counter-cultural movement ultimately gets co-opted by the mainstream as part of its natural evolution. And if the rumors are indeed true, Mr. Sorenson has busted his tail for many years and has earned a break. Should we feel sad?

Some people, rather than having an actual personality, define themselves by their consumer preferences, so when one of their favorite brands “sells out,” it’s like having a nervous breakdown.

If there’s anything wrong with the sale, it’s that Duane is being so evasive about it. At this point, it seems clear that he sold 90% of the company. Dancing around that fact is dishonest. Customers ought to be able to know what they’re buying, especially as Stumptown built their reputation largely on the ideal of economic fairness and transparency.